@GMTplus7 Having passive income and paying lower taxes on it is an option available to all of us. Tax exemption under 501©3 not so much.
Having an 8-figure trust fund to live off of is easier said than done.
And, I’d rather figure out a way to have all the bright-but-poor kids be able to afford some form of higher education (such as a state flagship), than concentrate solely on a handful of uber-bright-but-poor kids. Yes, Harvard can be transformational for them (and likely more transformational than it is for the kids from Short Hills) but there are a hundred other places that can be just as transformational for them.
Yes, PG. Those bright, hardworking, empowered kids who deserve a chance at higher ed and can’t afford it. Maybe the Harvards should reach down and support them at the schools they do get to.
I want an 8 figure trust fund to live off.
LF are you being sarcastic or serious? Of course H doesn’t “owe” kids support at whatever school they are going to.
@gphi777 : "Those individuals presumably pay income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. Harvard does not (although the City of Boston has negotiated some money out of them over the years). "
City of Cambridge?
Serious, but I suspect it isn’t feasible for the U itself (maybe one of their foundations.)
Less about financial and race issues that were raised in this thread: Unless I did not hear it correctly the other day when one of my colleagues said it, he basically said that from where he came from, more likely than not, it is almost always Harvard Girl that is in the spot light of the public there; it is less likely about a Harvard Boy. For the latter (i.e., boys), maybe more Caltech (or MIT) Boys because of its less holistic admission criteria & its STEM focus. (Guess from where did he come from?)
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/10/30/harvard-defends-pilot-contributions/
@Waiting2exhale Both cities get payments in lieu of taxes.
If you’re talking dollars, here’s a little story. http://community.harvard.edu/blog/harvard%E2%80%99s-impact-massachusetts-economy
“Having passive income and paying lower taxes on it is an option available to all of us.”
!!! Want to share some instructions with the rest of us?
Invest in stocks or bonds or real estate or other forms of capital. Earn capital gains, dividends, and tax favored interest such as that on state and municipal bonds. Requires risk taking.
Maybe your post was a joke and I missed it, sorry if so. Did not mean to be patronizing.
Really, do people on CC generally not know this…it is not like I am some kind of financial whiz kid.
Buy a stock or mutual fund. Hold it. The rise in value is increase in net worth that isn’t taxed until you sell it. When you sell it, depending on your tax bracket, you’ll pay capital gains rate of 0% - 20%. When your portfolio grows large enough, your investment income exceeds your W-2 income and your average tax rate drops. Passive income - no trust fund required.
But what do I know? I went to state school and got a B in Business Calculus.
Dividends (and capital gain distributions from mutual funds) will be subject to applicable income tax every year, unless the investments are inside a tax deferred type of account. Of course, tax rates and rules change frequently.
Of course, gains are not guaranteed. You may have capital losses instead of capital gains at the end.
Investing also assumes that the person in question is non-poor and lives below his/her means by enough to have extra money that can go into investments. Most non-poor people need to start with the prerequisite of living below their means, if they want to start investing for passive income.
Caputal gains and qualified dividends are what is taxed at the 0-25%. Unrealized gains aren’t taxed. This isn’t an investing forum. PM me if you want a recommendation of a good one. The point is that taxation of the wealthy is NOT the same as tax exempt status to Harvard.
“Maybe your post was a joke and I missed it, sorry if so.”
Just wanted to confirm that you define investing in stocks and bonds as “available” to “all of us.” Clearly not everybody falls into that definition of “us.”
I’m going to say that jobs working as runway models in Paris are also available to all of us. It’s true in quite the same sense.
“Unless I did not hear it correctly the other day when one of my colleagues said it, he basically said that from where he came from, more likely than not, it is almost always Harvard Girl that is in the spot light of the public there; it is less likely about a Harvard Boy. For the latter (i.e., boys), maybe more Caltech (or MIT) Boys because of its less holistic admission criteria & its STEM focus. (Guess from where did he come from?)”
A place where these schools are overly fetishized as being the meaning of life? A place where they don’t understand that people who go to Harvard are human beings with flaws who put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else, not magical beings who turn everything they touch to gold? A place completely out of touch with the reality of what these schools mean in America?
@pizzagirl "
A place where these schools are overly fetishized as being the meaning of life? A place where they don’t understand that people who go to Harvard are human beings with flaws who put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else, not magical beings who turn everything they touch to gold? A place completely out of touch with the reality of what these schools mean in America?"
Lol. This is better than morning coffee, PG!
Sigh. No poor people don’t have generally have passive income but they don’t pay generally marginal tax rates that are higher than passive income tax rates which is what posters above are complaining about. It really helps keep things straight if people read the comments in context.
The question is - what can Harvard do to raise awareness of its financial aid programs and is awareness even the issue?